Busy...
Walter and I both know in our minds that being busy to mask emotions or to avoid dealing with difficult situations is not a healthy strategy for life!  But since Caylea's diagnosis with melanoma, we couldn't just sit around, moping, ruminating and stewing over what might be...so Walter began to tear down our fence and build the new one.
This was on our "to do" list for this summer anyways; we had the lumber already in our backyard, cut to 8 foot lengths.  As of last night, Walter and Daniel attached the last 2 X 6's as daylight waned.  Yeah!
And then this morning, Daniel drove his sister to the Pasqua Hospital for her surgery.  It was something he could do for Caylea; he has been wonderful in hanging out with her, bugging her and generally doing the "big brother" things like throwing the football and going for ice cream.
But that meant Walter and I had nothing to do but wait for the call that Caylea was ready to come home.  Although we could have slept a while, both of us were awake around 4 or 4:30 am and I was up to see Caylea off at 6.  So what did we do while waiting?  Cleaned up the backyard construction zone, moved the firepit and burned some of the scraps.  In the unseasonably hot weather we have this week (+32 degrees C), we didn't stay outside too long to burn stuff.
At 11 o'clock, Walter called the Day Surgery to find out Caylea's status.  She was in recovery but asleep. We were told to call in another hour.
I decided not to work outside anymore, but to get cleaned up and have a bite to eat.  Walter puttered around a bit more and then he, too, came in. Walter called again and  Caylea was back in the Day Surgery ward and could be discharged in about an hour.
Caylea went in to surgery just around 8 am.  Yesterday, we went to Nuclear Medicine at the Pasqua Hospital, where they injected Caylea with a dye in order to highlight the lymph nodes.  We were sent home for a couple hours and returned to that unit again at 3 pm for a scan.  So then today, she apparently had some beeper/scanner thing passed over the neck and under her arm (right side where the mole was) to highlight the nodes before surgery.  Dr. Kurtz was to remove some sample lymph nodes to see if the cancer had spread there from the original mole site.
Dr. Chang is the cosmetic/plastic surgeon.  He was to remove more tissue from the mole area which would be about an inch all around that original site.  Then he would take skin from her upper thigh and do a graft on her arm.
When we arrived to pick Caylea up, she was just using the washroom with some help from the nurses.  I wasn't sure what we would see, considering the various procedures that had been performed this morning. Would she be bandaged from head to toe?  Amazingly, she was walking - yes, slowly- and looked pale as a ghost!  She was still hooked up to the IV and was favouring her right arm.  She said it was painful.  Her leg and other areas were fine.
She got dressed by herself.  The nurse had her sit down a while and eat a popsicle while Walter went to get the car and bring it out front.  I listened to the aftercare instructions, since Caylea was kind of "out of it", and gradually, Caylea's colour and alertness improved.  With the OK to go, I wheeled my girl down to the front door and Walter was there.
I am so thankful for this part of the journey to be over.  As much as I wanted to be at peace and not worry, it has been a challenge for both of us as parents to maintain faith and trust!  Caylea has seemed to breeze through, keeping her sense of humour and being pretty "chill" apart from some initial tears.  I guess, in her generation, cancer is not the "C" word that Walter & I grew up with, where most people who got cancer eventually died of it.  Caylea has two young friends who had childhood leukemia and survived.  We also know some women who had breast cancer, and some with melanoma who have been just fine after surgery and treatment.  So maybe the combination of life experience and God's grace, Caylea has been carried along.
As I blog, Caylea is sipping soup, nibbling crackers and visiting with her brother.  (BTW, Mark and Amy would be here in a heartbeat if not for a wedding they are involved in back in Gladstone, MB)  Walter has relinquished his recliner seat for Caylea, as it may be easier for her to sleep upright for a couple of nights.  So she is camped out in the basement, big screen TV and family doting on her.
Psalms 4 and 5 were comforting gifts to me in anticipation of this surgery.
"The Lord hears when I call to Him." (a mother's prayers being heard)
"In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." (Caylea would be safe in His arms during surgery)
"In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch."  (I was up since 6 and in prayer)
"For it is You who blesses the righteous...You surround them with favour as with a shield."  (Caylea would be surrounded and blessed by the Lord Himself)
Thank You All for your prayers!